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hats off to nguyen tien minh of Vietnam
by the way, anyone manage to capture his style of play when playing against chong wei? oldhand?
perhaps some small report will do

Chong Wei's loss was self-predicted even before he came to Singapore. He gave an excuse that his real motivation is the World Championships in India.

And against a player like Tien Minh who will fight for every point, LCW's fate was sealed earlier than expected. In terms of skill, LCW was clearly the better but his head kept telling him to lose.

NTM, on the other hand, must have psyche himself to win at all cost just to repay the faith that new sponsor Victor has given him and you should have seen him showing his emotions, kneeling and thumping hard on the floor and talking loudly or rather 'shouting' to himself immediately after his victory. And just as suddenly he stood up, acknowledged the applause, walked towards his equipment and disappeared quietly, more like his normal nature.

NTM should have shortened LCW's agony in the second game when he was able to do so during the remaining points. But he was too cautious and paid for it with unforced errors. But he quickly remembered how he won the first game and employed more or less the same tactics in the rubber decider. He kept the shuttle low as far as possible so that LCW could not kill it at random. Most times when NTM lifted the bird, bang it came down with no reply and LCW had been able to score on smashes readily.

But LCW's luck rang out in the end as NTM became craftier and more daring with his own smashes and net plays. It must have been NTM's best scalp of his career so far!

I just wish there were more videos of him. His speed and determination set a good example for anyone.
What an exciting match it must have been between TMN and the other road runner Sho Sasaki in the first round!

I just wish there were more videos of him. His speed and determination set a good example for anyone.
What an exciting match it must have been between TMN and the other road runner Sho Sasaki in the first round!

Yeah, the match between Nguyen Tien Minh and Sho Sasaki was extremely fast paced from start to finish!

hurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrraaaaaaaaa. Tien Minh No1 - An incredible Performance .It was a stunning . Tien Minh go and win . The bigest challenger you passed . This Title will be belong to you. All Vietnamese are pround of you .

Chong Wei's loss was self-predicted even before he came to Singapore. He gave an excuse that his real motivation is the World Championships in India.

And against a player like Tien Minh who will fight for every point, LCW's fate was sealed earlier than expected. In terms of skill, LCW was clearly the better but his head kept telling him to lose.

NTM, on the other hand, must have psyched himself to win at all cost just to repay the faith that new sponsor Victor has given him and you should have seen him showing his emotions, kneeling and thumping hard on the floor and talking loudly or rather 'shouting' to himself immediately after his victory. And just as suddenly he stood up, acknowledged the applause, walked towards his equipment and disappeared quietly, more like his normal nature.

NTM should have shortened LCW's agony in the second game when he was able to do so during the remaining points. But he was too cautious and paid for it with unforced errors. But he quickly remembered how he won the first game and employed more or less the same tactics in the rubber decider. He kept the shuttle low as far as possible so that LCW could not kill it at random. Most times when NTM lifted the bird, bang it came down with no reply and LCW had been able to score on smashes readily.

But LCW's luck ran out in the end as NTM became craftier and more daring with his own smashes and net plays. It must have been NTM's best scalp of his career so far!

Some pictures of the delighted Tien Minh, but he has to clear two more tough hurdles before he stands a chance to be crowned champion. For this he must beat possibly a China player!

And suddenly the past knocks on my mind. It used to be… every single sweat pouring on the floor, every single tear souring his heart once getting injury. And it used to be… days living with eyes deep in suspicion, with smile deep in sneer once he fell down. People may stand in your side for your winning and leave you without pity when you get lost. People may share but never will they know how much you have tried. And where is the hand when you are tired? Where is the shoulder to lean on when you get lost?

Some pictures of the delighted Tien Minh, but he has to clear two more tough hurdles before he stands a chance to be crowned champion. For this he must beat possibly a China player!

__________________________________________________ _______________

Loh, your assessment of LCW's mental approach hit the nail in the head.
NTM deserves his win and I hope LCW will learn from his defeat.
I had always felt that the lanky NTM would one day win an SS tournament and move up to the top 10 in the MS rankings.
Gillian Clark, the English commentator, has said many times that LCW tends to be passive in his approach unlike Lin Dan who is aggressive from the word 'go'. This was clearly manifested in the Swiss Open and the 2009 Sudirman Cup tournament. LCW won the Swiss open only because his defence was flawless. He was not able to do that for the Sudirman Cup tournament.
The other problem with LCW is that he tends to play catch up instead of setting the pace. He sometimes takes the unseeded players for granted on the belief that he could be trailing and yet win in the end. He is well known for his physical fitness and the English commentator John Burgess calls him "Pergassus" a well-known race horse. But NTM has shown that this attitude could be an illusion and his win proves just that.